Thursday, February 16, 2006

Sitting on my ass playing guitar

Posted by Johnny

I'm a big fan of relaxing. I probably shouldn't be doing that now with so many deadlines looming over my head, but I'm doing it anyway.

I had a rehearsal at the U of C tonight and I ran into my old friend Liz, who was looking fine as ever. I'm going to try and trick her into going out for drinks with me (not a date, though) because I probably wouldn't have been able to do that if I wasn't single. I think I'm starting to warm up to this situation...

So here's something that I was thinking about recently: I call this Learn Me Math More Better, by George W. Bush.

Ramping up the math and science programs in US public schools was a top priority listed in Bush's State of the Union Address. But according to this article (Math Crisis? What Crisis?), the majority of parents in the US don't really think their children need more math and science.

{ At this point, I will refrain from sarcastically linking Science to Satan. }

Most people will hardly ever use pure math or a detailed knowledge of science during their life span. After all, most of the jobs listed in the paper are not math/science related and the last time I checked, I didn't use Calculus to tie my shoes.

But this doesn't mean that math and science are not important.

Where would we be without the advances in science and math that occurred throughout the ages? I guess we'd be back in those ages... yeah.

So despite the fact that Bush is an idiot and probably won't be able to execute his plan, he is in the right mindframe in terms of upping the ante in math and science education. This time it is the parents who are wrong. Even though it may seem useless to most people, there are a few children who are smart enough to take advantage of a good science base and later pursue areas of research. Who knows, there could be a child today somewhere in the US that will one day discover cold fusion, assuming he gets a good scientific education in the public system.

I don't want to start making all sorts of wild predictions, but the US is not on the right track in terms of keeping their superpower status. Sure things may look good now, but with religious governments hampering research, wacked-out foreign policies justifying war on any nation, and an increasing dependence on foreign oil, the US has their work cut out for them.

China, Japan, and India are set to be the next powers of the world, and as long as Canada can keep Alberta and the oil sands to itself, we should be in pretty good shape too.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

JDAWG - Love the blog. So true. If only people knew how wonderful the world of math is, and how everything works out every time...just beautiful. It's and art form of perfection, and damn - humans created.

First off, I must say that Math, like evolution, is only a THEORY. In particular, calculus. You can't PROVE calcus works, so therefore you can't use it to prove anything else. You can't disprove that my mathulus doesn't work, so we should accept my mathulus as being correct and use it without ever looking at caculus again. That work of Satan.

Oh, you can prove calculus works? But how? Look at this obvious flaw. You can calculate a point that doesn't exist using a limit, but since it does not exist, how can it be calculated? Oh, you think I am stupid? I know the Truth(tm), which is more than you can say. So therefore, by default mathulus must be correct. No need to explain, I have already entirely disproved calculus.



The above is the reason the US is heading for destruction. How come stupid people keep breeding? Is it something in the water? We don't need math? Most people struggle with simple logs, but we don't use it all the time, so why teach it. It's no wonder the US productivity is so low, they are calculating half-life and compound interest the hard way (on time frame at a time).

Math makes our life easier. Why calculate something when you can just use trial an error - (the True(tm) method)? Good question...if you come up with the right answer in the end, did you still do it the wrong way? I say yes, yes you did. The person who provided me with the answer 3 days earlier is much more usefull. But in the US, we have unions and worker rights. You can't be fired for being plain old stupid (damn).

I would like to see another super power before I die. Personally, I would like to see the Greeks be a super power (or anyone in the Balkans). Then we would know what a bad super power is.

Honestly, the US is a decent super power, and I would much rather them police the world then some others. It would be nice if they were smart enough to know education was what they need to keep that power. They are, however, still riding on the backs of the Asians who built the railroad, the natural resources that are abundant, and a few bright men (and women).

Okay, so I totally lost the point that I didn't have. This has to be one of the worst posts for change tense/person. I am hungry. mmmm food.

Johnny said...

HAHA!

I am now going to convert to mathulus. No longer shall I use Calculus to tie my shoes!

In answer to your question, "Why do stupid people keep breeding?", the answer is "because they can't figure out how, when, or most importantly, why to use a condom."

I agree that it is less disadvantageous for Canada to have the US as a superpower because, well, they haven't invaded us yet. I doubt it will happen, but just in case, Alberta needs to build a 10 foot wall around the entire province.

Hmm, Greece as a superpower? That would make things interesting, especially in the locker rooms. Yikes.

eyes of a tragedy said...

i must say, this is like the most intense and deep comment exchange i have come across. reading it made me actaully feel dumber! ha, but it also highly amused me. needless to say, i loathe math with a vengence, though i had a twisted love with doing those proofs....back in the day.